TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed (“Harry S. Truman”), as former President, to Congressman Harold H. Velde, chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, 11 November 1953. 2 ½ pages, 4to, marked “(For Immediate Release).” With clipping of New York Times account of 13 November 1953.
TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed (“Harry S. Truman”), as former President, to Congressman Harold H. Velde, chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, 11 November 1953. 2 ½ pages, 4to, marked “(For Immediate Release).” With clipping of New York Times account of 13 November 1953. TRUMAN STIFF-ARMS A MOVE BY THE HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE (HUAC) TO SUBPOENA HIM TO TESTIFY on Friday the 13th, 1953. Here, in a signed copy of his letter to chairman Velde, evidently prepared for the press, Truman explains why he will not be showing up. “I feel constrained by my duty to the people of the United States to decline to comply with the subpoena. An astute student of the Presidency, Truman cites a long train of precedents, “commencing with George Washington himself in 1796. Since his day Presidents Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson, Tyler, Polk, Fillmore, Buchanan, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt have declined to respond to subpoenas of demands for information of various kinds by Congress.” He cites the eminent Constitutional scholar Charles Warren “In maintaining his rights against a trespassing Congress, the President defends not himself, but popular Government; he represents not himself but the People.” This separation of powers applies just as much to ex-Presidents. “The doctrine would be shattered, and the President, contrary to our fundamental theory of Constitutional Government, would become a mere arm of the Legislative Branch of the Government if he would feel during his term of office that his every act might be subject to official inquiry and possible distortion for political purposes.” HUAC--sensing they had picked a fight they could not win—backed off and took no further action against Truman.
TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed (“Harry S. Truman”), as former President, to Congressman Harold H. Velde, chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, 11 November 1953. 2 ½ pages, 4to, marked “(For Immediate Release).” With clipping of New York Times account of 13 November 1953.
TRUMAN, Harry S. Typed letter signed (“Harry S. Truman”), as former President, to Congressman Harold H. Velde, chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, 11 November 1953. 2 ½ pages, 4to, marked “(For Immediate Release).” With clipping of New York Times account of 13 November 1953. TRUMAN STIFF-ARMS A MOVE BY THE HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE (HUAC) TO SUBPOENA HIM TO TESTIFY on Friday the 13th, 1953. Here, in a signed copy of his letter to chairman Velde, evidently prepared for the press, Truman explains why he will not be showing up. “I feel constrained by my duty to the people of the United States to decline to comply with the subpoena. An astute student of the Presidency, Truman cites a long train of precedents, “commencing with George Washington himself in 1796. Since his day Presidents Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson, Tyler, Polk, Fillmore, Buchanan, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt have declined to respond to subpoenas of demands for information of various kinds by Congress.” He cites the eminent Constitutional scholar Charles Warren “In maintaining his rights against a trespassing Congress, the President defends not himself, but popular Government; he represents not himself but the People.” This separation of powers applies just as much to ex-Presidents. “The doctrine would be shattered, and the President, contrary to our fundamental theory of Constitutional Government, would become a mere arm of the Legislative Branch of the Government if he would feel during his term of office that his every act might be subject to official inquiry and possible distortion for political purposes.” HUAC--sensing they had picked a fight they could not win—backed off and took no further action against Truman.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
